CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxterminalrm
Diego Velez
Diego Velez

Reputation: 1893

How to remove a file with special characterictics

Hi I just created a file by mistake, doing a tar actually, anyway the problem I have is that I can't remove that file. It is called --exclude-tag-under=hey.txt

I am trying to use rm -rf command but it doesn't do the trick. this is the output

[root]# rm -rf '--exclude-tag-under\=hey.txt'
rm: unrecognized option '--exclude-tag-under\=hey.txt'
Try 'rm --help' for more information.

the problem here is that the command rm is recognizing the file as a flag and thats a problem, I've tried also 

rm -rf *hey.txt

but it doesnt work neither

I've also tried to change the name of the file but its the same problem

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2072

Answers (2)

sonologico
sonologico

Reputation: 764

Prepend ./ like this: rm ./--exclude-tag-under\=hey.txt

When in doubt, check the man pages. Running man rm will give you the rm man page, which, on Linux and OpenBSD (the ones I have tested) at least, will have a section saying:

To remove a file whose name starts with a '-', for example '-foo', use one of these commands:

rm -- -foo

rm ./-foo

Upvotes: 6

SMA
SMA

Reputation: 37023

Use rm -- --exclude-tag-under=hey.txt

$ ls
--exclude-tag-under=hey.txt
test
$ rm -- --exclude-tag-under=hey.txt
$ ls
test

Upvotes: 0

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